A Dutch rapper who described several young women who helped him out when his car got a flat tyre as sluts is facing a major backlash, including cancelled performances.

Several festival organisers such as Paaspop have now dropped appearances by Sofiane Boussaadia or Boef (little criminal), after he made the comments on social media platform Snapchat. Radio stations, including MNM in Belgium, have also vowed to boycott his records and a summer holiday tour organised by Corendon subsidiary GOfun has been cancelled, website RTL Nieuws reported.

Boussaadia, who lives in Tilburg and is of French Algerian origin, published a Snapchat video on December 31 describing the three women – friends of a friend – who drove over to help him out as kechs – street slang for a slut or prostitute.

The video prompted a surge of criticism after which the rapper placed a second video online. ‘I know people are angry because I said kechs, but what are you doing in a club with alcohol, short skirts and men at 8 in the morning?’ the 24-year-old said. ‘You are a slut. If you are at home, doing nothing, studying and listening to mum and dad, then I call you a woman.’

He later apologised to the women and for the follow-up video. ‘It was really stupid of me because I have a duty to set an example,’ he is quoted as saying by the Telegraaf. ‘When the first video was criticised I felt I was under attack… so I made the second film. In retrospect you think, you were really stupid. I made a mistake and I want to put things right.’

Celebrity

Boef is one of the most popular Dutch rappers, after Lil’ Kleine and Ronnie Flex. His management company told the AD on Thursday Boef will have to show who he really is in the coming months.

‘Boef has been famous for a year and is learning every day what it is like to be a celebrity. This sort of behaviour cannot be part of that and he knows this and agrees with it,’ the spokesman said.

The rapper’s social media sites have since been overloaded with racist comments and death threats, Boef said on Instagram where he has 866,000 followers.

‘You can call me to account and swear about what I said,’ he wrote. ‘But to use this as an excuse to throw discriminatory language at me makes you no better than me.’